The Relationship Between Agile and Multi-Channel Service

So much emphasis has been placed on strengthening multi-channel service within the contact center that some business execs are forgetting about the importance of providing agile service. Why is it important that they remember both? Because your customers want both…and they’re not willing to compromise. In fact, 89 percent of your customers are likely to consider your competition if they feel that their service or experience was bad.

As we said, it seems that many companies are putting all of their eggs in the “multi-channel” basket; however, a new whitepaper from top industry analyst Forrester Research cautions companies against this. In fact, the whitepaper claims that agile service is becoming more important than multi-channel service.

Before we get into the details of Forrester’s findings, it’s important to explain the difference between agile and multi-channel customer service:

Multi-channel customer service: This type of service spans across multiple platforms and methods – all which promote positive and innovative customer engagement. This can include mobile, websites, kiosks or in-store experiences.

Agile customer service: Customers not only want to contact your company via multiple communications channels like the above, but they want their service to be agile, or as Forrester describes it, “being able to start an interaction in one communication channel or touchpoint and complete it in another.”

Multi-channel service and agile service hold a special relationship to one another. In fact, some would argue that one can’t exist without the other. In a recent survey, 74 percent of execs said that improving cross-channel customer experiences was their “top objective.”

Do your call center solutions support both strong multi-channel and agile customer service? Click here to learn more from Forrester’s whitepaper.